Party of Two
by Theralion
Summary: Akiko Kurusu may be the leader of the Phantom Thieves, but she's still dateless on Valentine's Day. Luckily, she has that in common with Futaba. Female protagonist, Persona 5 spoilers.


**Party of Two  
**

On February 14, Akiko Kurusu, home from her first day back at school, spent the evening cleaning dishes in Leblanc- not exactly her idea of fun, but a definite step up from the work detail in juvenile detention. The few male classmates outside the Phantom Thieves who were on speaking terms with Akiko had given her some odd looks when she mentioned her plans, but she didn't care. None of the other girls in her group were giving any friendship chocolate to the boys they knew, so Akiko didn't feel the need to do so, either.

"So, don't you have anything planned for Valentine's Day?" Sojiro said.

"Nope," Akiko said. "If that's your idea of a pickup line..."

Sojiro chuckled.

"I know, I know," Sojiro said. "Wakaba told me that a million times."

Akiko nodded, somewhat sadly. She'd heard about how Sojiro had loved Wakaba, who hadn't quite reciprocated the feelings, but valued Sojiro as a trusted friend. Now the two friends were separated forever, thanks to the same man who'd tried to ruin Akiko's life.

The door opened, and Futaba- Sojiro's adopted daughter, as well as Akiko's friend and "party member" in more than one sense- casually stepped in. As the bell rang, Sojiro and Akiko turned and noticed her.

"Yo," Futaba said.

As Futaba brought her hands out from behind her back, Sojiro noticed that Futaba was holding a bag from Akihabara's retro games store, not one from somewhere that sold chocolate, and sighed.

"No chocolate for me?" Sojiro said.

Futaba emphatically shook her head. In her parlance, she lacked the "crafting skill" to make the chocolate, and while she had become comfortable enough to go shopping by herself, she hadn't bought any chocolate or the ingredients to make it.

"Uh-uh," Futaba said. "From the look on your face, I guess Akiko didn't give you any, either."

Akiko nodded. One of the reasons Futaba found it easy to relate to Akiko was that, while Akiko was more comfortable interacting with others, she wasn't a social butterfly, and had few friends at school. That fact hadn't changed even as Akiko climbed to the top of her class, and Futaba was glad to meet someone else who found school easy but struggled with dealing with others her age.

"Anyway, I'd like to hang out with Akiko," Futaba said. "When's she going to be available?"

"Right about now," Sojiro said. "I'll leave the shop to you."

Sojiro left the shop for the night, flipping the sign to "Closed" as he did so, and Morgana quickly followed. As the door shut behind them, Futaba turned to Akiko.

"Right now, I'm alone with someone around my age on Valentine's day," Futaba said. "Sojiro'd flip if you were a guy."

"Yeah, I thought so," Akiko said. "But what about if _you_ were male?"

Futaba giggled, amused by the double standard.

"Yeah, dads are always protective of their little princesses," Futaba said. "Welp, let's sit down."

Futaba sat down in the middle booth, and Akiko, after pouring herself and Futaba a cup of coffee, sat down across from Futaba.

"So you don't have anyone to give chocolate to, either, huh?" Futaba said. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"Me neither," Akiko said. "The guys in our group are good friends, but not boyfriend material."

Futaba laughed out loud.

"No kidding," Futaba said. "I sense no sex appeal from Ryuji, Inari's a weirdo, and Mona's a cat. The three of them were there for me when I needed you guys to steal my heart, just like the girls were, so I love all of them, but not _that way._ "

Conspicuously absent from the list was Goro Akechi, the temporary member of the team, as well as the primary perpetrator of the mental shutdowns. Futaba saw a great deal of herself in him, an illegitimate child who was the victim of abusive homes, and wondered if she might have turned out like him if not for her mother and Sojiro. That said, she could not forgive Akechi for killing her mother, and was greatly reassured when Haru told her that it was natural to sympathize with Akechi's plight while also not forgiving his crimes.

"Me too," Akiko said. "It's thanks to them, the rest of you and some other people who helped me this year that I'm sitting here right now, rather than in a cell in juvie."

Futaba smiled appreciatively, but the smile faded as she realized that all good things had to come to an end.

"That being said," Futaba said, "you're really going back next month, right? Even though we managed to prove you were innocent?"

Akiko solemnly nodded. There was little more she wanted to do than enjoy her time in Tokyo with her friends now that there wasn't some sort of threat hanging over their heads, from being expelled to being erased from existence by an evil god. Unfortunately, her time was running out, and while she'd accomplished everything she set out to do, she had to go home, whether she liked it or not.

"It's _because_ you were able to do so," Akiko said. "Now that my record's been cleared, I'm not only out of juvie, but also no longer on probation, and no longer need to stay with Sojiro. My folks want me to return home, and my old school even rescinded my expulsion."

Futaba furrowed her brow, somewhat worried. Akiko would soon have to part ways with the city she'd lived, and all the people she cared about, to live with parents who had turned on her all too easily at the first sign of trouble, and go back to a school that had expelled her once before. If Sojiro had been as faithless, Futaba and Akiko would have found the police waiting for them at Leblanc when they came home after the school festival.

"You sure you're fine with this?" Futaba said.

"Well, I don't exactly have a choice," Akiko said, with a slightly forced smile. "Still, the same could be said of coming here, and things turned out really well."

"True," Futaba said. "BTW, you won't be the first 'long distance friendship' I have. Kana-chan lives far apart from me, but we still keep in touch, and she's coming to visit next month."

"Sounds good," Akiko said.

Akiko remembered how fondly Futaba had talked about making a friend, how much she missed Kana and how glad she was that they could reconcile and be friends again, after so much time had passed. It even made Akiko a little jealous, as she wished that even one of her pre-Tokyo friends was half as loyal, forgiving and open to reconnecting as Kana had been.

"...unfortunately, _after_ you've gone home," Futaba said. "That's a shame, 'cause I really wanted to introduce you to her. You're the one who helped me make up with her and changed her parents' hearts, after all."

"The others helped on the latter part," Akiko said. "When the Magarios were mentioned as a possible target, _no one_ objected after hearing what they did to your friend. Besides, I've asked for help for a lot of my friends, so it's only fair that you get to help one of yours."

Futaba nodded appreciatively. Perhaps the day might come when Akiko and Kana would become friends, but for now, she was simply happy that her friends were willing to help someone dear to one of their number, even if they'd never met the friend in question.

"Anyway," Futaba said as she put the bag on the table and passed it to Akiko, "let's go upstairs and play some video games. I took the money I would've used to buy chocolates and got 'Old Man Daedalus' at Akihabara's retro game store."

"Good choice," Akiko said.

The two played video games for the rest of the evening, until Futaba returned to Sojiro. Perhaps some would think of them as strange for spending a day like this in such a mundane way, but since it had been a long time since the two of them had enjoyed their time together like this. While they could not prevent Akiko from going home in a little over a month, they could make the most of the remaining time, so they didn't care about those who didn't agree with how they chose to spend it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Thank you for reading this fic.

I decided to do a female version of the "dateless" option. Since Futaba's probably the female character closest to the protagonist if you don't romance anyone, she'd probably hang out with him, and being the least social of the Thieves, she'd be the least bothered by not having a date for Valentine's Day.

Incidentally, I have a poll up on my profile asking who you think is the best romantic match for the MC- any votes in it would be appreciated.


End file.
